La Liga, Week 36: Real Madrid Win Title

For more on Los Merengues, head over to Real Madrid blog Managing Madrid.

Things went from bad to worse for Málaga in the second half of a tough game in a tough stadium. After suffering the bad luck of a 50/50 call going against them--and paying the ultimate price for it--in the first half, they had to go through the whole process again in the second half. At first, they came out admirably, ready to attack Barcelona and exploit their game with quick, incisive counters. Then, they were undone from the penalty spot.

The penalty in the second half did not resemble the penalty in the first half at all. In the first half, Iniesta, slicing towards the area, was brought down on the edge of the box. The question was not whether it was a foul; the question was where was Andrés. The second penalty, the opposite was true. Messi, free on goal, was tackled by Duda in the box. Duda went to ground, but did manage to knock the ball away from Messi, who also fell down. Repetitions were unclear, and Málaga’s players swarmed referee Turienzo Alvarez. It was another tough-luck call that broke against the andalusians.

It was all coming apart for Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona. The first 10 minutes of their (possibly) Liga-losing match against fourth place Málaga had resulted in almost no real offensive opportunities, and, for good measure, Málaga had hit the post on a brilliant foul from Duda in the 10th minute. Málaga was looking increasingly threatening on the counter attack, and Barcelona couldn’t create any real offense to match the andalusian side’s intensity.

But they did. After a long counter attack, that left much of Málaga’s attacking force up field, Gámez flipped a little banana pass (that’s what it’s called in Spain) into the area, where it met with Rondón’s head. The striker nailed the ball into Pinto’s (a starter tonight over Valdés) bottom corner. A brilliant strike.

Vela netted the equalizer in stoppage time on a corner kick. Carlos Martinez had the first chance off the corner, but couldn’t hit the target with his header. Llorente eventually won the ball and found Vela, who smashed the ball into the net from close range to seal the draw for La Real and kill off any realistic hopes Atleti had of a top-four finish.

Real Madrid have no reported injuries so Mourinho will have plenty of options. Only Angel Di Maria is unavailable as he will serve a suspension for yellow card accumulation. Realistically Madrid should need no motivation considering a trophy is on the line, but any loss of focus will be an opening for Bilbao to potentially delay Madrid’s celebrations.

Game Date/Time: Wednesday, May 2, 4 p.m. ET, 10 p.m. local

Game Date/Time: Wednesday, May 2, 2 p.m. ET, 8 p.m. local

Venue: Camp Nou, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Getafe have been mediocre for a long time, while Racing’s relegation had already been confirmed. Why this match was actually played, no one knows. Mike scored a penalty for the hosts in the 59th minute, which was answered by a Papa Kouly Diop goal for Racing.

In the second half, Hernan Perez put the game away for Villarreal with a goal in the 56th minute. Alejandro Galvez got Sporting back into the game in the 85th minute with a goal made easy by a terrible Cristian Zapata header, but Sporting couldn’t find an equalizer. The match ended with a sideline scuffle, for which Sporting manager Javier Clemente and Villarreal backup keeper Cesar Sanchez were ejected.